Wife, Protect Me! - Chapter 12 - Investigation Prodigy?

After being exposed by the Magistrate of Chang’an, Li Nuo’s subsequent interrogations proceeded exceptionally smoothly.

Those twenty-some officials, regardless of their positions or which government office they served in, cooperated fully. For every question Li Nuo asked, they responded with ten answers, their attitudes surprisingly courteous. To accommodate the seated Li Nuo, they all half-bowed while replying.

This scene made Pei Zhe envious.

As the Magistrate of Chang’an, he frequently interacted with officials and nobles in the capital. When speaking with him, those people practically raised their noses to the sky. Yet when questioned by Li Nuo—a man without official rank or position—they didn’t even dare lift their heads.

After questioning the final official, Li Nuo stood and said, “Thank you for your efforts, gentlemen. You may return now.”

“No trouble at all, no trouble at all.”
“Young master is the one who worked hard.”
“Young master has endured much…”
“This official takes his leave…”
…

Within ten seconds of Li Nuo speaking, these officials scrambled to leave, as if staying a moment longer would trap them there forever.

Li Nuo felt slightly surprised inwardly. It seemed his father—whom he hadn’t met yet—held considerable prestige in the court, to the extent that even these officials treated him with such respect.

After releasing them, Li Nuo said to the Magistrate of Chang’an, “These court officials lack motive for the crime. If they wanted to kill Zheng Yuanwai, they wouldn’t need to do it themselves…”

Pei Zhe already knew the murderer wasn’t among these officials even without Li Nuo’s explanation. He had originally planned to release them first anyway. But even after releasing over twenty people, nearly two hundred remained. He didn’t know what method Li Nuo had to identify the murderer from these two hundred people in less than two hours, merely through questioning.

Full of doubts, he quietly watched Li Nuo’s performance.

With about two hundred people still detained after releasing the twenty-some officials, Li Nuo certainly couldn’t question them one by one. He clasped his hands behind his back, circled outside several prison cells, then pointed at one cell and said, “Open this cell. The people inside can go back.”

The jailer glanced at the Magistrate of Chang’an. Pei Zhe nodded and said, “Do as the young master says.”

Over the course of the morning, he had already familiarized himself with all the case details. Keeping these two hundred people locked up served no purpose—they would have to be released eventually anyway. In his view, this case would likely end without resolution.

Not all murder cases could be solved. In fact, eight or nine out of ten murder cases in Great Xia ultimately went unsolved. Cases where the murderer was actually caught were rare instead.

Li Nuo paced to another prison cell and spoke again: “The people in this cell may also return.”

The inmates from two cells were released, leaving two remaining cells. One held female family members—maids from the Zheng residence, Zheng Yuanwai’s wives and concubines, and a few female guests. The other cell contained Zheng Yuanwai’s business associates.

Li Nuo ordered the jailer to open these two cells and announced, “You are all free to go.”

The Magistrate of Chang’an was taken aback. What trickery is this? After all this fuss, he’s releasing everyone?

The prisoners didn’t care about the reasoning. Overjoyed at their sudden freedom, they surged out of the cells. Just as a handsome man stepped gleefully through the cell door, a hand clamped down on his shoulder. The voice that followed made him shudder, his heart turning to ice.

“They may leave, but you stay.”

Li Nuo pressed his right hand on the handsome man’s shoulder while grasping a young woman’s wrist with his left, stating calmly, “And you as well.”

The woman looked bewildered, while the handsome man paled and stammered, “S-Sir, why?”

Yes, why?
The Magistrate of Chang’an wondered the same. Li Nuo’s actions made no sense to him. Out of over two hundred people without any interrogation, why detain these two specifically? What set them apart?

Li Nuo offered the handsome man a benign smile, but it sent a chill crawling up the man’s spine, as if all his secrets had been laid bare.

Without explanation, Li Nuo instructed the jailer to imprison the man and woman separately in the farthest cells apart, ensuring they couldn’t see each other or collude in their stories.

From start to finish, Magistrate Pei Zhe remained utterly perplexed.

After the two were isolated, he finally couldn’t resist asking, “Young master, why detain those two? What suspicion do they bear?”

Li Nuo had arrived with the answers and merely needed to identify the culprits, though he couldn’t reveal this outright.

After a moment’s thought, he explained, “Most prisoners, uncertain of their fate, were either lost in anxious thought or visibly distressed—their behavior erratic. But during my brief questioning of the officials, this man and woman exchanged sixty-eight furtive glances. If not for shared secrets, how else could one explain this?”

The Magistrate stared at Li Nuo as if he were a monster.

While interrogating officials, he simultaneously observed over two hundred people across five cells and counted sixty-eight glances between two individuals?
Pei Zhe, an ordinary man, couldn’t fathom such a feat. But then he remembered whose son Li Nuo was, and it suddenly seemed plausible.

Still, if the pair had indeed exchanged that many glances, they were undoubtedly involved in something.
Pei Zhe turned to a constable and ordered, “Investigate their identities!”

The constable soon returned with a dossier. Pei Zhe skimmed it and immediately grasped a possibility, murmuring, “Could it be…?”

Li Nuo asked, “What has Lord Pei deduced?”

Pei Zhe handed the case file to Li Nuo before remembering that Li Nuo couldn’t read many characters. He explained, “The man is named Cui Ze, a newly wealthy merchant in Chang’an. The woman is Zhang Xiaoyun, the eighth concubine Zheng Yuanwai took in half a year ago… Cui Ze holds no grudge against Zheng Yuanwai and lacks motive for the crime. But if he were having an illicit affair with Zheng Yuanwai’s concubine, everything would make perfect sense.”

Crimes of passion and revenge accounted for the majority of homicide cases. Since Zheng Yuanwai was kind-hearted and had no enemies, a crime of passion seemed highly likely. He was already over fifty, long past his prime of vigor, yet he maintained a household full of wives and concubines—inevitably failing to satisfy them all.

And that eighth concubine, in the bloom of youth, was at an age craving affection and attention. Cui Ze was young and dashing—for young men and women, a spark igniting passion was entirely natural.

This case was ninety percent solved.

Earlier, Pei Zhe had observed carefully: when the two were separated, Cui Ze couldn’t resist glancing at Zhang Xiaoyun, his eyes filled with panic. While it was reasonable for anyone to feel nervous after everyone else was released and only they were detained, Pei Zhe—having encountered countless criminals—keenly detected something unusual in that panicked gaze.

However, none of this mattered to Pei Zhe now.

No case could compare to the shock Li Nuo had given him.

What was a born investigative prodigy?
This was it.

Without visiting the crime scene or understanding the case details, without needing to know anything at all—using only his eyes—he could pinpoint the culprit among over two hundred suspects. What kind of heaven-defying ability was this?

If he had been born three hundred years earlier, Legalism might have gained another Sage.
Alas, this was no longer the war-torn era of the Warring States. The great masters had passed away one after another, and Legalism had declined. Even if he were a born investigative prodigy, he couldn’t go far on the path of Legalism. The high officials and nobles at court would never allow another Legalist Sage to emerge. A pity, truly a pity.

Sighing inwardly, he turned to Li Nuo and asked, “Young master, what should we do next?”
Unconsciously, he had already begun to see Li Nuo as his anchor.

Chang’an County Office.
Dungeon.

Cui Ze leaned against the cold prison wall, his face pale and heart filled with terror.

How was this possible? How could it be? They had covered their tracks perfectly—even the servants in Zheng Manor hadn’t noticed anything. The Magistrate of Chang’an had investigated all morning without suspecting them. How did that person figure it out?

Recalling those piercing, all-seeing eyes, he panicked completely.

If they hadn’t known he was the culprit, why would they release everyone else and detain only the two of them?
Even more bizarre was that he had been locked up for nearly two hours, yet no one had come to interrogate him. The torment of those two hours was unbearable.

Footsteps echoed at the cell door—a jailer delivering food.

From morning until now, nearly eight hours had passed without food or water. He was starving. The prison meal provided by Chang’an County Office was simple: cabbage, tofu, and rice, with a faint sour smell, as if it had been sitting for days.

Accustomed to luxury and fine dining daily, Cui Ze found the spoiled meal utterly unpalatable.

Just then, a rich aroma of food wafted into his nostrils.
It was a scent Cui Ze knew all too well.”Roasted chicken, steamed fish, braised pork, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and this rice aroma… this is premium fragrant rice from the Northeast!”

Even facing imminent disaster, Cui Ze couldn’t help feeling resentful. They were all prisoners, so why was he given spoiled cabbage and tofu with rice while others enjoyed such fine food?

Two jailers carrying the delicious meals passed by Cui Ze’s cell, chatting casually.

“Is that woman really about to confess?”
“Of course! Otherwise, would the magistrate invest so much? If I were her, I’d confess too. Those who confess later face certain death, while the first to confess might avoid execution, though exile is inevitable—at least there’s a sliver of hope…”

What!
The jailers’ words struck Cui Ze’s mind like thunder.

She confessed?
The first to confess could avoid death—why hadn’t anyone told him?

Damn that wretched woman! She was the one who seduced him, caused Zheng Yuanwai’s death, and then plotted to seize his family fortune. It was all her scheme, and now he was the one who would die? How could he tolerate this?

As the jailers’ figures faded into the distance, Cui Ze gripped the prison bars, mustering all his strength to shout: “Your Honor! I confess! I confess everything!”

At the same time.
On the other side of the prison.

“Is that man really about to confess?”
“Of course! Otherwise, would the magistrate invest so much? If I were him, I’d confess too. Those who confess later face certain death, while the first to confess might avoid execution, though exile is inevitable—at least there’s a sliver of hope…”

In a cell at the corner, the young woman listened to the jailers’ seemingly casual remarks and glanced at the delicious food in their hands. Though she said nothing, she couldn’t hide her disappointment as she sighed softly.

She would never confess, but knowing Cui Ze as she did, his mind wouldn’t withstand such an obvious scheme to drive a wedge between them.

Sure enough, the next moment, she faintly heard Cui Ze’s shouts.

Though the prison was large and they were at opposite ends, it couldn’t completely muffle a grown man’s desperate cries.

Beyond disappointment, deep in her eyes lay a well-concealed fear—and a hint of relief.